updated 02:40 pm EDT, Fri October 16, 2009

Garmin outs nuvi 1450 with 5-inch touchscreen

Garmin has recently quietly began offering its latest portable navigation device, the nuvi 1450. It uses the same 5-inch, 480x272 resolution touchscreen as the costlier 1490T. Unlike that device, however, there is no Bluetooth support or live traffic updates and consequently brings it down to a budget level.

What the nuvi 1450 does include is a database of nearly six million points of interest, the ability to upload custom landmarks, and Garmin's ecoRoute option that finds the most fuel efficient route rather than the quickest. There is a microSD memory card slot for updating map data or viewing JPEG photos.

The Garmin nuvi 1450 should ship before the end of the month, priced at $450. [viaGPStracklog]